Whatever cat-sized ~ma is out there, I can use it for my cat, Domino. He's been diagnosed with liver cancer. We go in on Tuesday morning for an ultrasound to see how bad it is, and what, if anything we can do about it. I'm weeping writing this, he's the sweetest cat ever. Not to belittle everyone else's troubles - just invoking the FPC.

Hi Buffistas --

As you may know, my father has younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease. On September 25, I’ll be joining my parents to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, and I hope you’ll support me, or even join us in the Walk! The Alzheimer’s Association does great work funding research and raising awareness, and has provided great support and resources to me and my family. Alzheimer’s affects millions of people, so it’s likely that it has already affected your family and friends, so you know what the disease can do to a person. My father is still doing remarkably well, years into the disease, but we know there is still no cure for Alzheimer’s.

My personal donations page is here: [link]

Thanks, Jesse

The ~ma did not have quite the oomph I had hoped - Domino's cancer has spread thru his liver and spleen. We started him on a steroid (for nausea and to hopefully help him gain back some weight), and he meets with an oncologist on Friday. We've pretty much vetoed the idea of exploratory surgery, but we will give chemo a shot if we can. With just the steroids, the Vet (a different Dr. in the same practice) gives him 2ish months, we don't know how much of an extension chemo might be.

So I guess I need a cat~ma extension to Friday. Thanks for supporting this semi-lurker (and her feline friend).

So, I'm posting from the local Emergency Room. Daniel has an infection in his leg. He's getting IV antibiotics, and we are waiting to find out if he has to stay overnight or if we just keep coming back for more IV ab's. We have been entertaining the tech and nurse with witty repartee - or you know, puns. And singing. Lots of singing. Had to do something to keep our minds off how hard it was for them to find a vein.

The upside to this visit is that the tech broke out her Hallowe'en scrubs featuring an adorable skull and crossbones design. She let me take a picture so we could show people. I'll be posting that later.

So, a bit of ~ma would be lovely. Thanks.

We're home, both of us. Daniel's white blood cell count was way off the charts, but his inflammation numbers were fairly low, so the ER doc figured he was just fine to receive IV or IM ABs for the next few days on an outpatient basis, and rest up at home.

We are back from New York, and are hearing a tentative air date of 9/27 from the producers of Anderson. It was a very quick interview, but they will be showing Sassafras' picture at the breaks and putting information on their website, which is pretty amazing. We've set up a Find Sassafras Facebook page that people can like ( [link] ) and are working on cleaning up the blog before it airs. There is one picture from backstage at the show over there, and we'll share more when we are allowed to do so. My thanks to all of you who have been putting our links everyone to get the story out. We wouldn't have gotten this far without you.

I posted in F2F about where I'll be 10/12-10/16 -- Seattle, Huntingon Beach, Highland Ranch, Boulder, and Napierville, IL. I'd love to see Buffistas.

And on Tuesday, my book comes out! If anyone wanted to boost the signal about the release of Cold Kiss, I would love it. You could direct them to my blog, where I'll have online links to buy it.

Thanks so much. Wish me luck!

Daniel's leg is not getting better, so they are admitting him. ~ma appreciated.

The doctor is saying he will be in for three or four more days. He has a laptop with him (and free wireless). Profile addy is good, if anyone wishes to send him get well wishes.

I'm down in Austin dealing with the house we couldn't sell when we moved to North Carolina. The drought has caused some major damage to the foundation. The AC unit is shot. My realtor feels that in the current market, if I drop some $20K into renovations, I stand to lose only about $25K. Today has been, in other words, a deluge of bad news upon bad news.

However, in the silver lining department, I did receive a call about an hour ago setting up an interview for a just-opened English teacher position at a high school that is only some 45 minutes from my house. This will be my first job interview since late April/early May, and my very first teaching job interview. Any and all -ma that kind-hearted Buffistas are willing to spare for me at 8:30 am EST/7:30 am where I am right now - well, that would be most appreciated.